Youssouf Karembe

About Youssouf Karembe

Youssouf Karembe, born in 1973 in Bandiagara, started playing guitar in the 1990s. Being a danser of the local orchestra Les Echos de la Falaise de Bandiagara, he became their guitar player later on. Youssouf Karembe, born in 1973 in Bandiagara, started playing guitar in the 1990s. Being a danser of the local orchestra Les Echos de la Falaise de Bandiagara, he became their guitar player later on. He bought some musical equipment of his own and founded a first group, Yurugu with 6 musicians and 2 dancers, but the group was shortlived. Youssouf joined the Orchestre Communal de Sagansiré in the town of Mopti. Two years later, he came back to Bandiagara to get inspiration from the music of the Dogon, such as Sandjiré, koju pèrè and gona). In 1997, thorughout a period of 5 months, he visited various dogon villages to record and translate traditional songs. He also met dogon artists such as Endielou Dolo, dancer of the famous Sangha masks, and Etienne Kéné, dogon singer.

In 2002, Youssouf Karembe eventually created the Kumo Band, with which he tries to develop a mandingo style music based on dogon traditions, sung in various languages, Dogon, Bambara, Peul, Songhaï and French. Main inspirations are Salif Keita, Boubacar Traoré and Habib Koité. In 2006, their album « Toguna » came out, named after a tr